This
workshop group discussed aspects of performance in Indian folklore. Its focus
was not any particular genre, but an approach to the study of folklore. In pursuing
this topic, the discussions were both theoretical and empirical. Possible definitions
of "performance" and "text" were debated, and concrete examples
of each were described. One issue which embraced both these concerns was the variation
between textual and performance versions of the same narrative and this was discussed
in some detail. These concerns (definitions, description of examples, and variation
in performance) are the subjects of the first three sections of this report. The
last section is a short, concluding statement which also suggests directions for
further research.
The
primary intention of this report is to summarize the group's discussions by covering
the information shared and the issues debated. The theoretical questions raised
during the course of the four days achieved no final consensus among the participants.
Nevertheless, the debates were often stimulating and challenging. Since the study
of performance is still in a formative stage internationally, as well as in India,
many similar debates are needed before fundamental conceptions can be hammered
out.
Definitions
The
initial, and recurrent, problem was the definition of the very subject of discussion,
performance. Definitions, current in international folklore scholarship were brought
forward. For example, the idea that performance is an event for which the actor
accepts the responsibility to be evaluated as a bearer of traditions was discussed.
Another current concept of performance emphasizing its self-referencing qualities
was also mentioned.
With
these ideas in the background, the discussion then turned to specific events proposed
as performance. Among these events, those commonly accepted as "performing
arts", e.g. folk drama and oral narrative, posed no definitional problem.
However three events not universally recognized as "performance" were
debated. Two of these, icon-making and possession dance, seemed questionable because
they lack a strong verbal component. The third debated event, folk expression
in a marriage, was problematic because, although verbal, it is only a segment
of a larger event.
In
the course of this debate, it was pointed out that the absence of a verbal element
should not disqualify an event from consideration as "performance" unless
other non-verbal events, such as instrumental music and mime, are also to be excluded.
It was further argued that in each of the questionable events at least some of
the elements common to other "performances" were present: (1) an audience,
(2) assumption of a role, (3) a "frame" marking the event off from everyday
reality. The importance of the last of these, the frame, in delineating performance
events was emphasized at several points later in the discussion. For example,
greater specificity of the framed boundaries of the icon-making event, it was
noted, would strengthen the argument for its consideration as performance.
A second
and related definitional problem was that of "text". Again, the narrative
text was not easily identified in those events nor readily accepted as performance.
One opinion expressed was that no such text need be identified, i.e., that performance
need not be conceptualized with reference to a text. However, in order to make
the later discussion of textual-performance variation consistent for all presentations,
a broad concept of "text" was generally, though not unanimously, adopted.
A text was understood to be a prior, fixed standard which gives at least partial
form to performance. In these terms, a text can be verbal (narrative, song, folk
expression) or non-verbal (musical notation, kinesic patterns, iconic forms).
It can also exist in a written form or only in the mind of the performer, or in
both. Finally, it was argued that previous performances of an event became part
of the standard "text" and, thus, influence future performance of that
same event.
Presentations of Folk Performances
As
the substantive part of the group's discussions, each member presented an example
of a performance and described the larger tradition in which it occurs. After
these presentations, a standard format was designed to throw into prominence those
details considered most significant when comparing performance tradition at hand.
It should be clearly understood that this data format was intended for use only
for the material presented during the workshop and was not proposed as a tool
for more extensive collection and comparative research. Several obviously important
dimensions of performance traditions, such as full details on the performers and
historical information on the performance, were omitted. However, it should help
the reader gain a good idea of the kinds of performances discussed in the group.
The profiles of these presentations are given below.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 1
1.
Name of the Tradition
: kushān gān
2. Region
: Western Assam (Goalpara)
3. Context
:
A.
spatial
any open place, shrines; public institutionspreferred.
B.
temporal
: all year, but winter
preferred; night
C.
audience
: cross section of local
people.
D.
available no. of actors
: no fixed number, same
person may take many roles.
E.
financial support
: minimal, performers are
not professional.
4.
Function
: entertainment.
5. Performer(s)
: not professional, troupe
may becomposed ad hoc.
6. Audience Role
: active interaction.
7. Medium
: song, dance, dialogue.
8.
Type of Innovation
: songs, mostly humorous
9.
Cue for Innovation
: actors’ choice or audience
request.
10.
Content
: purān,a
and epic mythology.
11. Textual Forms
: no written texts, some
narrative segments
taken from written literature.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 2
1.
Name of the Tradition
: bhāonā
(This is the term for performance
versions.)
2.
Region
: Assam, central and eastern
parts
3.
Context
:
A.
spatial
in a chatra (monastery) or
nāmghar (chapel),
other
institutions, or open place in village.
B.
temporal
: death anniversary of
founders of
monasteries, other special occasions.
C.
audience
: on religious occasions,
it is confined to the
monastery
community, on other occasions, the whole village may attend.
D.
available no. of actors
: fixed
E.
financial support
: rarely performed for
money.
4. Function
: ritualistic when in monastery,
entertainment elsewhere.
5.
Performer(s)
: no information.
6. Audience
Role
: active, e.g., escorting
actors to stage,
prompting.
7.
Medium
: song, dance, dialogue.
8.
Type of Innovation
: messenger (dressed as
buffoon), inserted
humorous songs.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: choice of performers
or audience.
10.
Content
: mythological theme,
but performance need
not have religious
significance.
11.
Textual Forms
: written, published texts
(known as ānkiyanāt).
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 3
1.
Name of the Tradition
: teru
kūttu
2.
Region
: Tamil Nadu
3.
Context
:
A.
spatial
temple, open places, institutions.
B.
temporal
: night, all year.
C.
audience
: generally non-Brahmin
castes.
D.
available no. of actors
: 10-15 actors.
E.
financial support
: private contracts, temple
funds.
4.
Function
: mostly entertainment.
5.
Performer(s)
: not professional, middle
castes, (mostly).
6.
Audience Role
: active.
7.
Medium
: song, dance, dialogue.
8.
Type of Innovation
: through messenger, episodes,
can be lengthened or cut-off, local issues and
politics can be inserted.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: actors’ choice.
10. Content
: episodes from purān,a
epics; local stories.
11.
Textual Forms
: written scripts, but
oral transmission.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 4
1.
Name of the Tradition
: jarano
pāt (scroll painting)
2. Region
: West Bengal, Midnapur
District.
3.
Context
:
A.
spatial
village homes, village commons.
B.
temporal
: day, all year (except
monsoon) 15-20 minutes duration.
C.
audience
: villagers, heterogeneous,
varies by locale.
D.
available no. of actors
: a single performer, the
patua.
E.
financial support
: some grain and small
monetary gift.
4.
Function
: entertainment, to make
political
commentary;
also to increase religiousmerit.
5.
Performer(s)
: not professional, low
and middle castes.
6.
Audience Role
:generally active, varies according to whether Hindu or Muslim, young or old.
7.
Medium
: painted panels on scroll, verse, prose commentary.
8. Type
of Innovation : determined by audience; variation
in stories correspond to variation in painted scrolls.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: performers’ choice.
10. Content
: mythological themes,
local events, hero tales.
11.
Textual Forms
: oral only.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 5
1.
Name of the Tradition
: man,
cilia ceytal (clay figure-making)cāmi ceytal
(god-making)
2.
Region
: Tamil Nadu. (Madurai
District, although similar ritual found in other districts).
3.
Context
A.
spatial :
locale shifts from potters’ home to house temple, to village temple.
B.
temporal :
for festival, 7-10 days
in making.
C.
audience :
heterogeneous, some from potter’s village; some from village of festival.
D.
available no. of actors
: 5-7 men involved.
E.
financial support
: approx. Rs. 50/- and
1-3 bags paddy.
4.
Function
: ritual
5.
Performer(s)
: vēl,ār
potters (in Madurai District)
6.
Audience Role :
help in moving figure to temple, limited criticism.
7.
Medium
: clay.
8.
Type of Innovation
: some changes in pattern
of ritual according to generosity of patrons.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: from patrons.
10. Content
: Aiyanar (Sās,ta)
image.
11.
Textual Forms
: possibly Sastraic literature;
all previousrituals of this type form a “text” For
subsequent performances.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 6
1.
Name of the Tradition
: saptha
pati (7 steps) in marriage ceremony.
2.
Region
: Tamil Nadu (Other parts
of India, as well).
3.
Context
:
A.
spatial
temple, marriage hall.
B.
temporal
: marriage season, lasts
a few minutes of marriage ceremony
C.
audience
: crowd at marriage ceremony.
D.
available no. of actors
: marital couple.
E.
financial support
: no separate fees (part
of marriage festival).
4.
Function
: ritual.
5.
Performer(s)
: marital couple.
6. Audience
Role
: crowd acts as witness.
7.
Medium
: oral, mime.
8.
Type of Innovation
: slight variation in verbal
component.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: from marriage priest.
10.
Content
: a folk expression: “Having steped on the grinding stone, look at
the Arundathi star”.
11.
Textual Forms :
mime, oral, derived from the story of Arundathi in mahābhārata,
rāmāyan,a and purān,a.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 7
1.
Name of the Tradition
: mut,i
yērru
2.
Region
: Central Kerala.
3. Context
:
A.
spatial
temple area.
B.
temporal
: night, March-April, 4-6
hours.
C.
audience
: villagers, Hindu, upper
castes.
D.
available no. of actors
: 6 main characters and
a number of spirits
(gan,as).
E.
financial support
: temple funds or local
donations.
4.
Function
: ritual.
5.
Performer(s) :
not professional; nāyar,
mārār.
6.
Audience Role
: passive.
7.
Medium
: dance, song, dialogue,
masks.
8.
Type of Innovation
: episodic
sequence may be altered in regular ways.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: time limit, desires of
temple officials.
10.
Content
: dārikavadham.
11.
Textual Forms :
from mārkan,d,eya
purān,a, but oral transmission.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 8
1.
Name of the Tradition
: bommalāt,t,am
(shadow puppet play)
2.
Region
: Andhra Pradesh.
3. Context
:
A.
spatial
village, temple or open area, institutions in cities.
B.
temporal
: all year (except monsoon),
day and night.
C.
audience
: may be all strata of
society.
D.
available no. of actors
: usually 5-8 puppeteers.
E.
financial support
: minimal, fixed contract.
4.
Function
: mostly entertainment.
5.
Performer(s) :
not professional, Marathi-speaking caste (ārē).
6.
Audience Role
: passive.
7.
Medium
: narrative verse, song,
prose dialogue, puppets.
8.
Type of Innovation : elaboration
of scenes through song, omission of some scenes, appearance of vidushaka;
verses form other Telugu rāmāyan,a,
(e.g., Koru
konda rāmāyan,a, molla rāmāyan,a,
bhāskār rāmāyan,a) are borrowed
and inserted in performance.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: time limit, choice of performers.
10. Content:
sections from the rāmāyan,a
mahābharata.
11.
Textual Forms : primarily ranganātha
rāmāyan,a, but orally transmitted.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 9
1.
Name of the Tradition
: khyal
2. Region
: Rajasthan.
3.
Context
:
A.
spatial
village, open places, towns, institutions.
B.
temporal
: all year (except monsoon),
night.
C.
audience
: heterogeneous.
D.
available no. of actors
: drama troupe size varies.
E.
financial support
: minimal.
4.
Function
: mostly entertainment.
5.
Performer(s)
: not professional, hereditary.
6.
Audience Role
: active; vocal interaction
with performers.
7.
Medium :
song, prose
dialogue, mime, dance.
8.
Type of Innovation :
comic interludes,
embellishment by inserted songs, vidushaka.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: context, performers’
choice.
10.
Content :
mostly mythological, some modern themes (15 themes in all).
11.
Textual Forms :
written, published texts, used for prompting; two types of
texts:
(1)
“Straight”, with little deviation from plot line,
(2)
“Imaginative” (“mānorangani”),
with more poetic, florid style.
PERFORMANCE
PROFILE 10
1.
Name of the Tradition
: vil
pāt,t,u (bow song)
2.
Region
: Tamil Nadu, Kanya Kumari, Tirunelveli Districts (and rivandrum
District, Kerala).
3.
Context
:
A.
spatial local temple, village or town.
B.
temporal :
season (January-May), day
and night, 2-8 hours.
C.
audience :
heterogeneous,
local village or town population.
D.
available no. of actors
: minimally 5, as many as 10.
E.
financial support
:
4.
Function :
ritualistic, rarely for entertainment.
5. Performer(s)
: not professional, lower, middle castes
(particularly nādāa and
vel,l,āl,ar).
6.
Audience Role
: mostly passive, limited criticism,
giving small amounts as gifts.
7.
Medium :
song, narrative prose, dialogue.
8.
Type of Innovation
: episodic omission, addition.
9.
Cue for Innovation
: context, i.e., position
of performance in festival sequence.
10.
Content
: historical of local
deities, 2 types:
(1)
human, born on earth,
(2)
divine, born in kailas.
11. Textual
Forms
: palm-leaf manuscripts (sometimes used as reference or as “script” for
performance);
hand-written copies and printed pamphlets.
Varieties
of Variation in Performance
After
each of the presentations summarized in the profiles above, a general discussion
was held on the various details of the performance and its tradition. One specific
issue functioned as a focal point in these discussions and provided a basis for
comparison among them. This issue was the relationship between textual and performance
versions of the same narrative. During his or her presentation, each participant
was asked to cite one or more specific examples of how the "text" was
altered in performance.
The
range of examples of these variations in performance displays certain regular
features. First, on the level of narrative content, performances show different
degrees of correspondence to, or divergence from, a textual standard (see above
the definition of text in the section on definition). Accordingly, these performances
may be placed on a continuum between fixity, on the one hand, and variation or
innovation, on the other. For example, at the pole of extreme fixity, certain
performances in the Tamil vil pat?t?u tradition were noted to be verbatim recitations
of texts. For all other performances, greater divergence from a text would move
them closer to the opposite pole of extreme innovation.
In
most of these performances, it was found that content was altered by omitting,
adding, contracting or expanding certain episodes. Three specific examples were
given. In bommalat?t?am, performances of lanka dhanam (from the ramayan?a) include
a detailed description of Lanka which is absent in the texts. In vil pat?t?u,
the entire second half of a narrative is often omitted in performance. Finally,
mut?i yer?r?u performances of darika vadham use three different sequences, two
of five and one of seven episodes. In other performances, the general observation
was made that the insertion of songs and dialogue could alter minor aspects of
content.
Next,
on the level of function, another continuum can be drawn between ritualistic performances
and entertainment-oriented performances. Almost all the performances presented
involve some ritual function. However, in a few (e.g., clay icon-making and folk
expression) it is paramount, while in others (e.g., folk drama of bommalat?t?am,
teru kuttu and khayal) it is minimal. In still other traditions (e.g. vil pat?t?u),
performances range considerably in the degree of their ritualistic function. Significantly,
this variation in function appears correlated to that noted already on the level
of content. Performances with greater fixity in content tend to be more ritualistic
in function. Conversely, those with greater innovation in content tend to be entertainment-oriented
in function.
One
reason for this correlation between content innovation and entertainment function
is that an innovative technique common to many of the traditions is the use of
a buffoon (vidushaka). This character simultaneously introduces new story elements
and a farcical mood in performance. Another character commonly inserted in performance
is the messenger (dutha) who may similarly provide scope for humorous dialogue.
This
use of dialogue links the correlation between content and function to a third
variation - - the use of media. All narrative performances were found to combine
the use of at least two oral delivery styles, verse and prose. Additionally, song
(or a special kind of verse) and dialogue (or a special kind of prose) were identified
in several presentations. The texts, however, are mostly in some versified form.
Thus, those performances with a greater use of verse delivery style tend also
to be those with greater content fixity. On the other hand, those performances
with more prose tend towards innovation.
Moreover,
since the verse-dominant performances tend to be fixed in content, according to
the correlation between content and function described above, they also tend to
be ritualistic. By the same correlation, the prose-dominant and innovative performances
tend to be entertainment-oriented.
Another
frequently mentioned technique for altering the text in performance was the use
of song. Although this delivery style is versified, it is not narrative like the
main body of the text, Rather, the songs are detachable units distinct from the
main narrative. Also, like the prose medium, the songs usually deviate form the
central story line and introduce a humorous or erotic note, or comment on, a local
issue or political issue or political problems. The use of this special form of
verse, therefore, is associated with entertainment, rather than ritualistic, performances.
This
set of correlations among the three levels of variation in performance is summarized
below.
(content)
Fixity Innovation
(function)
Ritual Entertainment
(medium)
Narrative Prose, Dialogue, Song
Verse
It
should be emphasized that the above diagram illustrates only tendencies along
continua, and tendencies only among the performances surveyed in the group. The
correlations it suggests are not absolute, nor are they intended to apply to all
types of folk performance in India.
Conclusions
This
report is presented with the hope that it will be useful in several ways to scholars
of Indian folklore. Firstly, it introduces a relatively new approach in folkloristics
and one that has been rarely used to analyze Indian materials. A brief bibliography
of important performances studies is provided at the end of this report for interested
persons.
Secondly,
at the descriptive level, it supplies details about several performance traditions
in India. These descriptions should be useful as starting points for comparative
research with other similar traditions. The individual participants may be contacted
directly for further information concerning their research on these traditions.
Thirdly,
the profile designed for summarizing the salient features of performance may assist
other faced with a similar task. Again we wish to add that the profile is not
perfected and is offered as a working format only.
Fourthly,
the set of correlations analyzed in the previous section should provoke further
discussions on these questions. Only such a cumulative process can confirm, reject
or modify its tentative hypothesis and bring greater clarity.
Fifthly,
the speculative nature of the definitions discussed in the first section is likewise
a call for more discussion and greater precision. This area of perception and
models of performance is still in a nascent stage and requires serious attention.
In
an attempt to refine our conceptualizations of performance in Indian folklore,
on line of inquiry would seem particularly productive. This is the identification
and examination of indigenous concepts of performance. For example, during our
discussion it was brought out that in Assam there is "set" of performance
events. Items in this set are marked by the terminological tag "gan"
(e.g., kushan gan, pala gan, dotra gan, etc.,). After surveying all the events
in this set, one could then analyze how they differ from other events in the same
region. This analysis would then suggest some distinctive features of performance
would contribute to the eventual formation of a pan-Indian definition.
Indigenous
concepts of performance are indicated by terminology in another way. Again in
an Assamese tradition, textual versions (ankiya nat) are terminologically distinguished
from their enactments (bhaona). This type of distinction is immeasurably crucial.
It suggests that local people themselves recognize that the performance of a story
is something different from its textual form. Further study, observation and interviewing
would reveal the subtleties upon which this distinction rests and supply additional
material for a definition of Indian folk performance.
Both
these examples of performance concepts come from Assam. Similar terminology that
either delimits a set of performance events, or that separates enactment from
text should be isolated in other regions. Only after such concepts are systematically
analyzed will it be possible to outline the unique elements of performance in
Indian folklore.
Another
important issue in folklore scholarship only cursorily discussed in the group
is the relationship between composition and performance. This connection between
a prior written and/or oral text and its later oral delivery is, despite oral
formulaic studies, not well understood. However, it is precisely this interplay
between fixity and variation (discussed in general terms in the third section
of this report) that animates performance. A careful study of this interaction
promise to uncover some of the now unknown processes which constitute a performance.
Another process related to those of composition and performance is that of
transmission. This is the final area which we mention in this report as a topic
for future research on performance. Like composition and performance, transmission
may involve written or oral forms, both. Thus, an understanding of how an oral
tradition is transmitted will shed needed light not only on what happens in performance,
but also on the developmental processes in Indian literature more generally.
We wish
to close this report by emphasizing the value of the study of Indian oral traditions
to international folkloristics. The central problems is verbal folklore research
are the interlocking processes of transmission, composition and performance. Of
these, only the first two have been even partially studied. If the whole complex
is to be adequately understood, obviously performance must be intensively and
extensively examined. Here, the tremendous diversity and availability of performances
in India holds extraordinary potential. This report, we hope, will provide some
impetus to the realization of this potential.
Stuart
Blackburn
Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.
Notes
1.
The following paper was generated from the discussion at the Workshop on Indian
Performance Traditions held during the Indo-American Seminar on Indian Folklore
at the Central Institute of Indian Language, Mysore. The participants at the workshop
were: Stuart Blackburn (coordinator and editor), Birendranath Data, Choomar Choondal,
Stephen Inglis, David Runder, Muthu Chidambram, Erica Claus, Ramnivas Sharma,
and Amy Catlin. Addresses of the participants may be obtained by writing to Dr.
Jawaharlal Handoo, Folklore Unit, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore,
570006, Karnataka, India; or, Dr. Stuart Blackburn, Department of Religion, Dartmouth
College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA
SUGGESTED READING
Abrahams,
Roger
1968 Introductory remarks to a rhetorical theory of folklore. Journal
of American Folklore. 8: 143-158.
1977 Toward an enactment - centered theory
of folklore. In W. Bascom (ed.) Frontiers of Folklore. Westview Press: Boulder,
Colo. Pp. 79-120.
Bauman,
Richard
1978 Verbal Art as Performance.
Newbury: Rowley, Mass.
Bauman,
Richard and A. Paredes (eds.)
1974 Folklore: Communication and Performance.
Mouton: The Hague.
Blackburn,
Stuart
1981 Oral performance: narrative and ritual in a Tamil tradition.
Journal of American Folklore 94: 207-27.
Scheub,
Harold
1977 The technique of the expansibleimage in Xhosa Ntsomi performances.
In B. Lindfors (ed.) Forms of Folklore in Africa: Narrative, Poetic, Gnomic and
Dramatic. Pp. 37-63. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Snith,
John D.
1977 The singer of the song? a reassessment of Lord's "oral"
theory. Man 12, 1: 141-53.
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